Inspiring Women

Hello, 

So from my last blog, I have been thinking about women who inspire me and I came up with this small list. 

1. Angela Merkel, 
Chancellor of Germany, a research scientist. She has been named the most powerful women in the world by Forbes magazine. Her greatest contribution was to strengthen the economy of Europe during the 2007 rescission. 

2. Janet Yellen, 

The chairman of the FED and an American economist. She received the Adam Smith Award in October 2010.Her goal is to reduce the unemployment and keep the inflation at a minimum level. 

3. Oprah Winfrey

Need I say more?  Anyways, I like her because she promotes "reading" and education. 

4. Dipa Regmi

My mom, because she manages everything so well. Took care of me and my sister. Salute to her strength

. 

5. Serena Van der Woodsen

This is a character played by Blake Lively, in the famous show "Gossip Girl".

 Hands down her style is awesome.  Can style get better than this? Nope!!! 

I adore and look up-to these women. They are from different fields but they are all unique and special in their own way. 

  

Federal Reserve Bank

Hello:

This week we started learning about Monetary Policy, it is just my first class this week and I am already hooked up.

This is a policy for keeping the supply of money in market and stabilize the interest rates so that the economy stays stable. Monetary policy is maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank here in the US. There are 12 fed reserve banks in US, at 12 different cities. (Sadly, none in Seattle) The fed reserve was established in 1913, and the chair person is Janet Yellen.   She is one of my personal inspirations.

 

The  Fed reserve bank in NYC

The Fed reserve's bank duties are following.

1. Maximizing Employment, making prices stable and keeping moderate interest rate.

2. Supervising and regulating banking institutions.

3. Maintaining stability and reducing the risk of financial market. 

4. Providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation's payments system. 

For more information visit: Link (Fed's website)

Well this much for today, however writing this blog I got an idea to write about the influential personality in the fields of economics, especially women. Keep an eye for the next blog. 

Ciao!

Exam!

Even though this was a pretty long weekend I could not do much. As usual I had work  and I had to study for  my economics exam tomorrow. So, this weekend was no fun.

Trying to learn as much as I can. Besides from my text book and study guide I have found an very interesting site that helps me study efficiently. It is called the Quilzlet (LINK). There are several multiple choice questions with their answers. So, its a good practice after your text study. (BWT, this site also offers other subject guides)

Looking forward for this exam to get over so I can have some quality time outdoors. (Hopefully it does not rain as much, Seattle problem!).

I see the world cup fever kicking in, my social pages covered with it. Need to keep up with the schedules and start my own preparations. I will keep you guys posted.

- More to come! 

Unemployment

Unemployment is a state when a person is actively looking for a job and cannot find it. There are two problems of unemployment short run  and long run. Every country has some rate of unemployment, while in the US 5% is considered as the natural rate of unemployment. Natural rate is the rate that is considered normal.

Unemployment is measured by Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a part of department of Labor.
Unemployment rate = (Number of  unemployed / Labor force) *100
Labor force is the population that is fit to work, this excluded children and senior citizens.

The unemployment rate for April 2014, was 6.3%. This is above the natural rate of unemployment which indicates that the economy is still not recovered properly.

There is always be some unemployment, due to inevitable causes like  lays off, searching new jobs, being a full time student at college. However, if the rate is above the natural rate, government can introduce different policies and help the rate do down like increasing the minimum wage.

(The above picture is from telegraph.co.uk) 

I hope this gave you a little idea about unemployment. 

Nerdy Chai!

Hello;

After my 3 classes today, I was pretty much left with a heavy head. I decided to head up to the espresso lounge, get my regular chai tea. My friend who works there surprised me with her special "Nerdy Chai", which was better than my normal choice. Sipping it, I went to the library and saw a new book. You know what happens when I see new books, my heart races! and it was titled, "The under cover economist strikes back" can it get better? Nope!

I am not a good photographer!

I will surely post an review about it, if I finish it. (Which lets hope, I will)

Besides, this we are learning about unemployment this week. I will be posing a blog about that soon.

Nirvana

My first attempt to write something personal  here. The weekend had been pretty busy for me, I work during the weekends and I had a wild crazy party (College life) this Saturday. Thus to clear my mind, I decided to explore Seattle. I discovered a beautiful lake near my place. It was like perfect escape from the hustle and bustle.

Isn't that just perfect? I stayed there for an hour or so, reading my The Cartoon introduction to Economics, Volume 2. (What else would I read, right? :p ) Besides, that I talked with my parents, for the longest time, did a lot of catching up with them. This was a weekend well spent. 

Ciao! 

Music during the great depression

Hello:

In my music class we are learning about music history in United States. I did some research over internet and found that there are so many songs made during the great depression. This is the cultural aspect of economic change but we can see the effects on people.

Unemployment in US during the great depression was up to 25%. Bing Corsby, a sang a famous song named, "Brother, Can you spare a dime?" (LINK) The pictures in the video are also very historical. They give the over all idea of that time. 

Connecting economics to different aspects of life, and trying to learn from different fields. 

Economic Survey

Hello:

So talking with my friends and parents I have decided to include more varieties of blogs. So far, I have only included economics learning but now I was thinking to include more of my college experience.

Besides that, today I was going through the web site of Ministry of Finance, Nepal and found a economic survey report. This report gave me so much information about the current situation of Nepal's economy. (LINK) The report was very easy to go through and I could grasp a lot of information. I am so happy to know that, I can understand a economic survey results, isn't that great? This has opened the idea of understanding economies of different counties around the world.

Have to catch up with my math homework and hit the gym later.

More to come!

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Hello:

This week, I have been into GDP. GDP is defined as the market value of all final goods and services produced with in a country in a given period of time.

This is a complex definition, but I have been able to keep it up so far. Market value is  like the price of goods right now at your the nearest store. Final goods and services means that the goods need to be in its final stage, for example a leather bag costs $250 and the leather only costs $150, we are not counting the cost of leather in the GDP as it will be counted in the cost of leather bag. Thus, intermediate products are not counted. Produced with in a country means, that the product needs to be produced within boundary of a country. Goods produced outside the country by the country's citizen cannot be counted in the GDP. And for the given period of time is simple, at a specific time.

The components of GDP are consumption, investment, government purchases and net exports. Net exports is the amount of exports minus the imports.

FUN FACT: According to google, the earth's GDP was 71.67 Trillion USD in the year 2012.

If you want to look at different country's GDP click this Link I recommend you to visit it once, it has lots of interesting data and blogs.

Micro Vs. Macro

Hello:

This was one of the busiest week, three mid terms in one week. However, I have something share today.

Economics is divided into two main branches, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Microeconomics measures the decision of small house holds and firms where as Macroeconomics measures the entire economic of country. Economics analysis or forecast of a firm, or about a particular product is microeconomics. Like how would the new dollar menu of Mac Donald affect its profit. On the other hand, analysis of data for the entice country is macroeconomics. Calculating Gross National Product (GNP) fall in the macro section.

So far I have taken one Micro and one Macro economics class and I have found Macro more interesting. The minor I am planning to pursue is also related government and policy making thus it compliments my fondness for macro.

10 Most used words

Hello:

As every subject area has some of their own term and words so does economics, today I am listing the most common and basic terms used in the study of economics. Ready, set and go....

1. Absolute advantage: The ability to produce goods with fewer resources or inputs than others.

2. Comparative advantage: The ability to produce goods with lower opportunity cost than others.

3. Complements: Products that are used together. Example: Yogurt and fruits.

4. Deflation: Decrease in the price level of products.

5. Inflation: Increase in the price level of products.

6. Incentives: A cost or benefit that motivates a decision in the economy.

7. Substitute: Products that are used instead of the other. Example: Frozen yogurt and ice cream.

8. Surplus: Excess of products in the market over the demand.

9. Tariff: Tax applied in the imported goods.

10. Taxes: Collection of revenue by the government.

These words have slightly different meaning than normally used in English language. However, glad that they are not something totally different like Musa Paradisiaca, which is banana in scientific terms.

More to come!